DocSpotty
06-01-2009, 10:05 PM
Well I guess it’s about time for my first fishing report of the year…..it has been mediocre to say the least….with issues. In April my wife had to attend a business conference in Orlando, FL for 4 days….a colleague couldn’t go at the last moment and she didn’t want to go alone…….ssssssoooooooo being the dutiful husband I told her I would be happy to accompany her. But, I mused……..what was I going to do during the days when she was busy……..hhhmmmmmm???? She suggested….wait…..it’s coming……..that maybe I could go fishing?? The thought had never occurred to me (okay, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch) but I acquiesced to her good judgment.
We took a few days before the course to spend some quiet time on the Atlantic coast at Cocoa Beach. My wife booked a nice place right on the beach. We knew something was amiss when we arrived to hundreds of young people wandering around everywhere. Turns out they were having a surf contest literally in front of our hotel….so much for a few tranquil days of peace and quiet. So we went fishing in the bay around Cape Canaveral the next day and caught………….NOTHING…..not a very auspicious beginning to the new year. And to compound the problem my wife went with me…
So we headed back to Orlando and after her first boring day of seminars she decided to ditch the 2nd day and go fishing with me again. In the morning we did half a day of fishing on a local lake where we both caught several nice largemouth to 3 lbs. I also added a new species to my lifetime list with an eastern pickerel….yeah. In the afternoon we took a bit of a drive to some ponds out in the middle of nowhere which were loaded with barramundi (from Australia)….the guys were selling them commercially and running some fishing trips also. Normally they catch a lot of them but we had a terrible afternoon but finally managed 2 barries…..I got a 7 lbs then my wife got a 12 lbs…..man can those things fight….so I added another species to my list (am at 191).
The last few days of her seminar I traveled down to Boca Raton…then Flamingo, FL in the Everglades. My friend Steve ran me out to his personal bass fishing mecca somewhere in the middle of the Loxahatchee (sp?) swamp…..the deep water was 3 feet….I never knew there were so many alligators in all the world….the critters were everywhere. Fishing was a hoot there, dragging lizards across the surface with many bass going from 3-5 lbs.. Had a great ride in lying on the bow near the water (to keep the motor as high as possible) so we could run full speed back in….would have made a great video. In the afternoon we fished the local canals for peacocks and largemouth…..catching about 20 fish each. Included in that was my largest largemouth ever at around 7+ lbs. The next day fished the flats down off the Everglades….sight fishing to several redfish. What a hoot to see them pushing around in the shallow water and then go scooting after your lure. We caught a couple dozen snook in the afternoon. So overall I had expected the fishing to be much better….but it is still fishing. On the drive back to Orlando, in the dark, I hit a big raccoon and fractured the front skirt on the rental car……just perfect.
I know you guys are going….hey….Doc always puts up lots of pictures…..well here the story gets sadder and more pathetic. The morning we’re leaving to fly back to Alaska I am busy stuffing things deep into my backpack when I get a definitive ouchy feeling on the end my finger and it won’t come out of the bottom of the backpack. After painfully removing everything in the pack I see my middle finger is pinned through a reel bag into the bottom of the pack with a brand new “babybass” colored Luckycraft lure….the business end of one of the treble hooks is buried into my first knuckle joint. So, utilizing the only tool I can find…..needlenose pliers…. I painfully remove the hook from the backback…although it is still buried in the cloth reel bag. About this time 5 idiots arrive from the hotel management (whom my wife has frantically called) and with their emergency kit….etc….they don’t even have a pair of tape scissors. A utility knife is used to PAINFULLY remove the reel bag…..now we can see the barb in my middle finger is pointed in on the bone in the first knuckle. Being the martyr I usually am not, I took the needle nose and tried to shove the barb through…unfortunately the bone wouldn’t let go of it and I nearly passed out. About this time we realize our flight time is in jeopardy….fortunately there is an emergency room half a block away. We rush over there and are met by experts with a great deal of experience in removing embedded hooks. In short order they pull out this horse needle full of anesthetic and completely render half my hand extremely numb. Then with a lot of pushing and needle jabbing and much squirting of blood out the miserable hook came (of course I made sure they removed the hook from the unused lure so it wouldn’t be damaged….I’m not a complete moron). We hurried back to the hotel….shoved everything in our bags and made it to the check in with about 2 minutes to spare.
Now at this point you are asking, “This man’s diatribe into his miserable, self-induced trauma has let him wander from the question of …. Where are the photos?” Well when we got to Minneapolis to change planes I found the outer compartment of my backpack was open and my camera was gone. You just don’t know how visual I am…..losing these pictures was devastating to me….my wife called all possible parties where it could be for a month…but to no avail….the pictures will forever be the screensaver on some theifs’ pilfered computer monitor. I have had to face questions from my significant other about intentionally losing the camera cause she caught the biggest fish, etc,etc.. It took me a month to recover (okay…so I have no real life…cut me some slack). One of the guys I was with did have a few pictures of the redfish and I will try to link them:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c51/Captbennyblanco/DSC_0740M.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c51/Captbennyblanco/DSC_0737M.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c51/Captbennyblanco/Brian%20Wight/DSC_0742.jpg
The weather in Alaska was warm for May and we have had too much runoff making the streams difficult to fish. I have taken a couple of drifts on the Willow River and have caught some nice rainbows….nothing very big and no pictures…I was still too depressed. Last Friday I went out halibut fishing from Seward, AK….a bit early but I was down there with friends. The morning was absolutely gorgeous and on the 2+ hour ride to where we would be fishing we saw a couple of fin whales, a minke whale and a whole mess of humpbacks….a couple of which were completely jumping out of the water…never get tired of seeing that. We arrived near Montague Is to fish:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MontagueIsland.jpg
There were several small lingcod caught….besides the season is closed for them…on jigs. Then the wind started to build and it made the fishing tough. We couldn’t hardly get bit on bait and the few fish caught were on the jigs. As the waves got miserably choppy I took my turn with the jig and caught a chicken butt about 15 lbs and then half an hour later got my meat fish about 45-50 lbs…this was on salmon tackle and was a hoot:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/SmallLingcod.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BigBut45-50.jpg
By now the wind was howling and it was difficult to weigh anchor without turning over….as we started in it was going to be a 6 hour boatride due to the waves and we were considering running into a cove to anchor up. Fortunately, the young captain radioed a friend who was near us…..our boat was about 2 tons….his was 28 tons. We hopped in behind him and had a very colorful 3 hours or so, to port letting him break the water. Here’s a little video clip during that ride…my kidneys may never be the same:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/th_NEWYEAR09.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/?action=view¤t=NEWYEAR09.flv)
So the boys and I took a nice picture with our fish
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/GroupShot.jpg
….they were filleted and I headed home. Just today I purchased a new “fishing” camera so I am prepared for now.
Watch them sharp hooks!!!!
Brian
We took a few days before the course to spend some quiet time on the Atlantic coast at Cocoa Beach. My wife booked a nice place right on the beach. We knew something was amiss when we arrived to hundreds of young people wandering around everywhere. Turns out they were having a surf contest literally in front of our hotel….so much for a few tranquil days of peace and quiet. So we went fishing in the bay around Cape Canaveral the next day and caught………….NOTHING…..not a very auspicious beginning to the new year. And to compound the problem my wife went with me…
So we headed back to Orlando and after her first boring day of seminars she decided to ditch the 2nd day and go fishing with me again. In the morning we did half a day of fishing on a local lake where we both caught several nice largemouth to 3 lbs. I also added a new species to my lifetime list with an eastern pickerel….yeah. In the afternoon we took a bit of a drive to some ponds out in the middle of nowhere which were loaded with barramundi (from Australia)….the guys were selling them commercially and running some fishing trips also. Normally they catch a lot of them but we had a terrible afternoon but finally managed 2 barries…..I got a 7 lbs then my wife got a 12 lbs…..man can those things fight….so I added another species to my list (am at 191).
The last few days of her seminar I traveled down to Boca Raton…then Flamingo, FL in the Everglades. My friend Steve ran me out to his personal bass fishing mecca somewhere in the middle of the Loxahatchee (sp?) swamp…..the deep water was 3 feet….I never knew there were so many alligators in all the world….the critters were everywhere. Fishing was a hoot there, dragging lizards across the surface with many bass going from 3-5 lbs.. Had a great ride in lying on the bow near the water (to keep the motor as high as possible) so we could run full speed back in….would have made a great video. In the afternoon we fished the local canals for peacocks and largemouth…..catching about 20 fish each. Included in that was my largest largemouth ever at around 7+ lbs. The next day fished the flats down off the Everglades….sight fishing to several redfish. What a hoot to see them pushing around in the shallow water and then go scooting after your lure. We caught a couple dozen snook in the afternoon. So overall I had expected the fishing to be much better….but it is still fishing. On the drive back to Orlando, in the dark, I hit a big raccoon and fractured the front skirt on the rental car……just perfect.
I know you guys are going….hey….Doc always puts up lots of pictures…..well here the story gets sadder and more pathetic. The morning we’re leaving to fly back to Alaska I am busy stuffing things deep into my backpack when I get a definitive ouchy feeling on the end my finger and it won’t come out of the bottom of the backpack. After painfully removing everything in the pack I see my middle finger is pinned through a reel bag into the bottom of the pack with a brand new “babybass” colored Luckycraft lure….the business end of one of the treble hooks is buried into my first knuckle joint. So, utilizing the only tool I can find…..needlenose pliers…. I painfully remove the hook from the backback…although it is still buried in the cloth reel bag. About this time 5 idiots arrive from the hotel management (whom my wife has frantically called) and with their emergency kit….etc….they don’t even have a pair of tape scissors. A utility knife is used to PAINFULLY remove the reel bag…..now we can see the barb in my middle finger is pointed in on the bone in the first knuckle. Being the martyr I usually am not, I took the needle nose and tried to shove the barb through…unfortunately the bone wouldn’t let go of it and I nearly passed out. About this time we realize our flight time is in jeopardy….fortunately there is an emergency room half a block away. We rush over there and are met by experts with a great deal of experience in removing embedded hooks. In short order they pull out this horse needle full of anesthetic and completely render half my hand extremely numb. Then with a lot of pushing and needle jabbing and much squirting of blood out the miserable hook came (of course I made sure they removed the hook from the unused lure so it wouldn’t be damaged….I’m not a complete moron). We hurried back to the hotel….shoved everything in our bags and made it to the check in with about 2 minutes to spare.
Now at this point you are asking, “This man’s diatribe into his miserable, self-induced trauma has let him wander from the question of …. Where are the photos?” Well when we got to Minneapolis to change planes I found the outer compartment of my backpack was open and my camera was gone. You just don’t know how visual I am…..losing these pictures was devastating to me….my wife called all possible parties where it could be for a month…but to no avail….the pictures will forever be the screensaver on some theifs’ pilfered computer monitor. I have had to face questions from my significant other about intentionally losing the camera cause she caught the biggest fish, etc,etc.. It took me a month to recover (okay…so I have no real life…cut me some slack). One of the guys I was with did have a few pictures of the redfish and I will try to link them:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c51/Captbennyblanco/DSC_0740M.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c51/Captbennyblanco/DSC_0737M.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c51/Captbennyblanco/Brian%20Wight/DSC_0742.jpg
The weather in Alaska was warm for May and we have had too much runoff making the streams difficult to fish. I have taken a couple of drifts on the Willow River and have caught some nice rainbows….nothing very big and no pictures…I was still too depressed. Last Friday I went out halibut fishing from Seward, AK….a bit early but I was down there with friends. The morning was absolutely gorgeous and on the 2+ hour ride to where we would be fishing we saw a couple of fin whales, a minke whale and a whole mess of humpbacks….a couple of which were completely jumping out of the water…never get tired of seeing that. We arrived near Montague Is to fish:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MontagueIsland.jpg
There were several small lingcod caught….besides the season is closed for them…on jigs. Then the wind started to build and it made the fishing tough. We couldn’t hardly get bit on bait and the few fish caught were on the jigs. As the waves got miserably choppy I took my turn with the jig and caught a chicken butt about 15 lbs and then half an hour later got my meat fish about 45-50 lbs…this was on salmon tackle and was a hoot:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/SmallLingcod.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BigBut45-50.jpg
By now the wind was howling and it was difficult to weigh anchor without turning over….as we started in it was going to be a 6 hour boatride due to the waves and we were considering running into a cove to anchor up. Fortunately, the young captain radioed a friend who was near us…..our boat was about 2 tons….his was 28 tons. We hopped in behind him and had a very colorful 3 hours or so, to port letting him break the water. Here’s a little video clip during that ride…my kidneys may never be the same:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/th_NEWYEAR09.jpg (http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/?action=view¤t=NEWYEAR09.flv)
So the boys and I took a nice picture with our fish
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/GroupShot.jpg
….they were filleted and I headed home. Just today I purchased a new “fishing” camera so I am prepared for now.
Watch them sharp hooks!!!!
Brian